Lamorak at Morgan le Fay's Castle

Lamorak at Morgan le Fay's Castle is an episode in which Sir Lamorak confronts the dangerous jousting custom enforced at a castle belonging to Morgan le Fay, then fights and reconciles with Sir Palamides. Its decisive turn is from a public challenge to a personal misunderstanding: Lamorak defeats the castle’s knights and ends their custom, but Palamides, wounded and humiliated, pursues him and fights without knowing who he is. Recognition replaces resentment with respect, and the two depart as friends.

The Castle and Its Custom

Sir Dinadan identifies the castle as the dwelling of Morgan le Fay, sister to King Arthur. Arthur had given it to her, but the gift had become a source of regret: Morgan and Arthur were at odds, she repeatedly made war on him, and she kept dangerous knights there to attack knights whom Arthur valued. The castle’s position made its hostility more than a family quarrel; it imposed a test on anyone passing along the way.

No knight could pass without jousting against one, two, or three of the castle’s defenders. A defeated visitor lost his horse and armor and might also be held prisoner. Sir Palamides calls the practice shameful, particularly because Morgan uses it to make war on her own lord, whom he describes as the flower of Christian and heathen chivalry. He declares that he will not serve her and intends to oppose the custom. His indignation establishes the encounter’s public stakes: the question is not simply who can win a joust, but whether a predatory rule can continue to command the road.

Lamorak Takes the Challenge

Before Palamides can act, a knight bearing a red shield arrives and asks him not to interfere. The stranger says the deed is his request and that he came seeking it; should he be defeated, Palamides may avenge him. It is Sir Lamorak, though his companions do not yet know his identity. Palamides agrees to watch, and Sir Dinadan offers his support.

The red-shielded knight takes on the defenders in succession. He unhorses the first, then the second, and then the third. When a fourth rides out, Lamorak strikes with such force that horse and rider fall, and the knight dies from the fall. Palamides judges the stranger an exceptionally capable jouster; Dinadan compares his skill favorably with that of Sir Launcelot and Sir Tristram. The lords and ladies watching from the castle walls likewise praise his performance.

Palamides repeatedly asks to take over, but Lamorak refuses. After the fourth encounter, another defender rides out bearing a shield divided into black and white. Lamorak strikes through the shield and the knight’s body, bringing down the horse as well. Palamides again urges him to rest, but Lamorak insists he is not too weary to continue and will face even twenty knights. The exchange makes his persistence part of the contest: he will not let Palamides’s concern or the defenders’ numbers interrupt the challenge he has claimed.

The Custom Is Broken

Palamides finally jousts with the red-shielded knight himself. Lamorak wounds him, and Palamides falls from his horse. Sir Dinadan also takes the field, despite being reluctant to fight, and is unhorsed. Lamorak nevertheless refuses to let his squires take the two knights’ horses, because they are errant knights. He continues against seven more defenders, unhorses them, and kills four of the twelve knights he has faced in jousts.

The outcome is not merely a victory over individual opponents. Lamorak makes the surviving eight swear upon a sword’s cross that they will no longer observe the castle’s evil custom, then lets them go. A knight comes out unarmed to acknowledge the damage Lamorak has done and says that no one else at the castle will fight him; the defenders repent of his coming because he has undone the old practice. The gates close, and Lamorak rides away. The castle’s witnesses praise him, while the custom that forced passing knights into combat has been brought to an end by the combat itself.

Palamides and Lamorak: Recognition and Reconciliation

Palamides cannot accept his defeat as final. He tells Dinadan that the encounter has shamed him and says he means to pursue the stranger and take revenge with his sword, since he believes he cannot win honor against him on horseback. Dinadan advises against it: Lamorak has already fought too much and is exhausted. Palamides nevertheless insists on following. They find him in a valley beside a fountain, dismounted and resting after removing his helmet to drink.

Palamides confronts Lamorak over the shame he believes was done to him and demands a fight. Lamorak points out that he has been heavily tried that day, but Palamides refuses to let that consideration stop him. When Lamorak mounts and prepares to joust, Palamides declines to meet him on horseback, believing that method would give him no chance of winning. He dismounts, draws his sword, and prepares for combat on foot; Lamorak follows suit. They fight for about an hour, and Palamides’s wound from the earlier joust eventually weakens him.

Before yielding, Palamides asks his opponent’s name. He gives his own, and Lamorak identifies himself as Sir Lamorak de Galis, son and heir of King Pellinore, and half-brother of Sir Tor. Recognition changes the meaning of the fight. Palamides kneels and asks mercy, acknowledging that he wronged Lamorak by challenging him after seeing how much he had already done and endured. Lamorak embraces him and praises his prowess; Palamides, in turn, says that he would not trade their meeting for the fairest castle in the land and promises to love Lamorak above all other knights except his brother Sir Safere. Lamorak returns the affection, reserving the same exception for his brother Sir Tor.

Resolution and Narrative Significance

Sir Dinadan rejoices at seeing Lamorak, and the knights’ squires tend their equipment and stop their wounds. The company spends the night at a priory. Thus the episode closes not with Palamides’s proposed revenge but with recognition, forgiveness, and fellowship. The men who had first met in a public contest and then fought over a perceived injury become friends after learning one another’s identities.

The episode sets two forms of knightly honor against each other. Lamorak’s first contest ends a castle custom that punished travelers and could leave them dispossessed or imprisoned; the second begins because Palamides interprets his defeat as a personal disgrace. The text allows the grievance to drive him into a renewed fight, but makes recognition the way out: once the knights know who stands before them, Palamides admits his error and Lamorak answers with praise rather than retaliation. Their reconciliation restores the fellowship that the castle’s coercive practice—and Palamides’s impulse to avenge his shame—had threatened to fracture.